How did social media change our lives?

Social media. One of the greatest inventions of the 21st century. Really? Did I just say that? Well I did, and if you ask me, it really is THAT important. For my generation, it all started with My Space, but the history of social media goes way back. I won’t go so much into details, but if you wanna know more, you can read some interesting info here. So why did My Space become so popular? Well… You could have Tila Tequila as a friend. Remember people, My Space was active way before Twitter where you could follow celebrities, so adding a celebrity on your My Space gave you a feeling you were really friends. At the height of her popularity, Tila had 1.5 million friends on My Space. It was a great page for self promoting and it became popular with the younger generation. I know, the Tila Tequila reason is really a long shot theory, but I’ve read it on an interesting article you can find here. I won’t go so much into details with the advantages/disadvantages of My Space so you can read up here. I barely wrote an intro and I already have three links, gotta slow down with those down.

So, how can social media affect your life? To me, it had a huge impact on my life, on a personal and professional level. I’ve met my girl online, from a country next to mine. It all started like a joke, but the next moment we both were standing at the main bus station in my city looking each other in the eyes. I never expected that one comment on a Facebook status of a friend who comes from a totally different country than we could influence my life so much. But it did.

With social media, all borders mean less to the average person with internet access. The girl you like seems a little bit closer when you can see her posts and get a more detailed insight in your life. Your stalker also seems closer when he can see all your posts. Your future boss seems closer when he can see the stuff you like and what faces you make when you’re drunk. And even your distant relatives can post on your picture that you’re really all grown up and that they remember you pissing in your pants! Great isn’t it? Well it isn’t. Social media poses a great threat to your personal information. Sure, you can always edit your privacy settings, but can you hide everything?

A more detailed analysis about that problem will be in my next article, are we human or are we a billboard?

Social media as profession

Can you make a living out of Social media? The answer is yes! You really can. I work in a company called Hrvatski Telekom, the Croatian branch of the T-com/T-mobile group of Deutsche Telekom, and for more than a year I was part of our online team. I can’t go into details about how the company works, but one of my jobs was being an administrator which was a really stressful job. Anyone who worked with people understands the problematic of giving information to a person who doesn’t know how to process that information. The bigger problem is when you try to do it via Social media. Why? Everyone can see what you post and everyone can see you answer. Why is it important to have a professional in that case? To use damage control. What is damage control? Before you go with this article, I would ask you to read my other one, about one of the most important facts about being a Social media expert. You can find the link to the article here.